WASHINGTON - For decades the Republican Party prided itself for being tough on crime, often putting Democrats on the defensive by pushing for longer, mandatory sentences for convicts. In 1988, that hard-line stance helped sink the presidential dreams of then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, who was blamed in Republican TV ads for having released convicted killer Willie Horton as part of a weekend furlough program. (Horton failed to return after a furlough and went on to commit robbery and rape.)

Saku Koivu saw his retiring teammate, friend and Finnish countryman Teemu Selanne skate around the arena bathed in cheers last week in the Ducks' final regular-season home game. Moved, of course, Koivu quickly set aside the moment that's so close to home. Because there are still games to win. Koivu, 39, could be just as close to retirement as Selanne, but the 18-year NHL veteran center hasn't officially announced his intentions. "Very private guy, very unselfish - been like that a long time," Koivu's linemate Andrew Cogliano said.

As Formula One prepared for this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, perhaps the racing series' biggest news came out of Italy. Formula One stalwart Ferrari, mired in a years-long slump, tapped Marco Mattiacci as team principal after Stefano Domenicali stepped down earlier this week. What turned heads is that Mattiacci, 43, doesn't have any experience running a Formula One team; the Rome native most recently was managing Ferrari's North American operation. Now he's given the challenge of finding some way to get Ferrari and its two drivers -- former champions Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen -- competitive again with such teams as Mercedes and Red Bull.

SeaWorld lost a major round Friday in its legal fight to put its trainers back into the water with killer whales during the parks' marquee orca shows. By 2-1, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., rejected an appeal by SeaWorld of a citation issued in 2012 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration after its investigation into the 2010 drowning death of a trainer at the SeaWorld park in Orlando, Fla. In court documents, SeaWorld had argued that proximity of the trainers to the killer whales was central to the appeal of the orca shows and without that proximity the shows would lose popularity.

Don't let the cheesy title deter you. "Cuban Fury" is a thoroughly engaging crowd-pleaser - sweet, quite amusing and even a tad inspiring. British funnyman Nick Frost ("Shaun of the Dead," "Hot Fuzz") makes for an especially root-worthy hero as Bruce Garrett, an earnest lathe salesman who reconnects with an old love: salsa dancing. Bruce may come off to friends and co-workers like a bit of a schlub; he's a self-described 2 on the 1-to-10 scale. But beneath that pudgy exterior lies the heart of a champion salsa dancer, which in fact he was as a kid until a humiliating incident dubbed "Sequingate" caused Bruce to burn his dancing shoes (literally)

Zeituni Onyango, an aunt of President Obama whose bid for asylum in the United States received national attention during her nephew's first campaign for the presidency and contributed to the debate over illegal immigration, died Tuesday in Boston. She was 61. Onyango had been treated in recent months for cancer and respiratory problems, said Cleveland attorney Margaret Wong, who represented Onyango in her immigration case. A half sister of Obama's late father, Onyango moved from Kenya to the U.S. in 2000.

Speaking to reporters after a board of directors meeting in Los Angeles on Tuesday, U.S. Olympic Committee leaders said they are in the process of meeting with fewer than 10 American cities interested in bidding for the 2024 Summer Games. The informal discussions will help them decide on two or three domestic finalists. Once the field is narrowed, the USOC will then choose a bid representative -- or choose not to bid at all. "Our goal is to make a decision by the end of the year," said Scott Blackmun, the USOC's chief executive, adding that the current talks have focused on "which cities do we think can put together a bid that is going to be a fantastic bid. " The Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games has been working on details for bringing the Olympics to Los Angeles for a third time.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Officials at Venezuela's largest university called on President Nicolas Maduro on Friday to help protect students after masked pro-government vigilantes attacked a peaceful gathering on campus and injured seven people. Victor Marquez, president of the faculty association at the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas, said the attack Thursday on a group of about 1,200 students was carried out by men armed with metal pipes and wooden rods as national guard members stood by. Witnesses said the assailants also had pistols, but no shots were fired.

NEW YORK -- A woman who lost her face and hands in a mauling by a friend's pet chimpanzee has lost her bid to sue the state of Connecticut for damages to pay medical bills, even as legislators expressed sympathy for her plight. The decision Wednesday by the state judiciary committee could put to rest Charla Nash's legal battle, which has been grinding through various courts since the September 2009 incident outside the Stamford, Conn., home of her friend, Sandra Herold. In a statement after the 35-3 vote, Nash, 60, called the decision "devastating.

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to overhaul the way garbage is collected from tens of thousands of businesses and apartment complexes in what city officials, labor leaders and environmental activists described as a groundbreaking plan to put L.A. at the forefront of landfill waste reduction. "This is going to be the most exacting, the most ambitious, gold-standard waste recycling system not just in the country, but in the world," said Greg Good, Mayor Eric Garcetti's director of infrastructure and a former project director with the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy.